Coincidence vs. Fate
The concepts of Coincidence and Fate are pretty much opposites. The first asserts uncontrolled randomness while the second contends there is some kind of plan. One says you beat the mathematical odds, and the other says you just didn’t see the formula. In this talk, Earl Robinson will tell us how people in the Civil War collecting community, are constantly asking each other for help finding things that are on the surface very unlikely. Earl says it is like looking for needles in haystacks, and finding them. But it happens. A lot. He asks, is it Chance or fate? When it happens, should we shrug our shoulders, or get all goose bumpy? Whether it is gravity, or magnetism, Earl says that it seems that relics somehow attract. Or, maybe, as some sages have said, “If you look for something hard enough, it will start looking for you.” Like his other presentations, this talk will fascinate, and entertain us, with true stories about a small group of California collectors, whose experiences would throw the odds makers into full retreat. You do not want to miss this program.

Mr. Earl Robinson
Earl’s Civil War memories go back to visiting “John Brown’s lookout” and celebrating the War’s centennial as a boy. He is a founding member of the West Coast Civil War Collectors, owner of Reunion Civil War Antiques, and a regular exhibitor of original artifacts at national Civil War shows. Earl has authored articles in “North South Trader’s Civil War and Military Images” magazine, and he has spoken to Civil War Round Tables throughout Southern California. In addition, Earl is a member of the Board of Directors, for the Garrison and Society, of the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum. His wife, Cathy, is a Virginian, whose great-grandfather was General George Pickett’s orderly. In his other life, Earl is the co-founder, and President, of the Omnica Corporation, one of the premier medical product design, engineering, and development firms on the West coast.